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Engaging the First Year: Laying the Foundations of Personal and Professional Development

Engaging the First Year: Laying the Foundations of Personal and Professional Development. Ian Smith ia.smith@napier.ac.uk. Further Information.

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Engaging the First Year: Laying the Foundations of Personal and Professional Development

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  1. Engaging the First Year: Laying the Foundations of Personal and Professional Development Ian Smith ia.smith@napier.ac.uk

  2. Further Information • Smith, I (2006, April) Empowering the learner through enhanced engagement informed by reflective practice. Paper presented to The First Year Experience In Continuing Education ESCalate, University of Stirling ISBN 978-1-905788-41-5 • Smith, I (2007, August) Engaging the First Year: Laying the Foundations of Personal & Professional Development. Short paper presented to 8th Annual Conference of the Higher Education Academy for Information and Computer Sciences, University of Southampton • http://www.ed.napier.ac.uk/staffconference/june2006/posters/smith.pdf • http://www.ed.napier.ac.uk/staffconference/june2007/posters/smith.pdf • http://www.napier.ac.uk/confidentfutures/whatis.aspx

  3. Referenced Material • (2004) 'One in seven students to drop out' , BBC, UK Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3703468.stm • (2004) Consultation on the Effective Learning Framework – an Implementation Model for Personal Development Planning in Scottish HE. Joint Working Group (JWG) of the Scottish Advisory Committee for Credit and Access, Universities Scotland, UK • Bowen, E. Price, T. Lloyd, S. & Thomas, S. (2005) Improving the Quantity and Quality of Attendance to Improve Student Retention Journal of Further and Higher Education, Volume 29, Number 4, pp. 375-385 • Hill, P. Platooning the first year - encouraging social cohesion among an intake of 700 undergraduates. Paper presented at Innovations in Supporting the First Year Experience, Higher Education Academy, Edinburgh, UK • Smith, E.M. & Beggs, B.J. (2004) “The ‘Triple C’ model for optimisation of student retention in Engineering Education”

EE2004 Innovation, Good Practice and Research in Engineering Education University of Wolverhampton, UK • Smith, E.M. Beggs, B.J. Robinson, A. & Middleton, W. (2003) Personal Development Planning for Student Retention and Progression in Engineering, PROGRESS Project Strategy Guide: PDP for Progression in Engineering, University of Hull, UK. Available from http://www.hull.ac.uk/engprogress/Prog3Papers/PDPGuide.pdf

  4. enculturate engage empower educate CO13003: Professional Development (Smith, 2007)

  5. FLQs Professional Development module Effective Learning Framework Academic How does my course help my employability ? How do I learn ? Self Review Career Personal What are my career skills ?

  6. The Graduate’s Journey Academic Physical Space Virtual Space Social

  7. Engagement • What do we mean by engagement ? • Metric(s) ? • One-way process ? • Tutor - Student v Student - Student ? • Academic v Social ? • Physical Space v Virtual Space ? • Asynchronous v Synchronous ?

  8. yes yes yes 2007/2008 ? yes yes yes Context Planned Innovations for First Year in 2006/07 • Confident Futures • Technology-Assisted Tracking System (Tracker) • ePortfolio • Vertical-Peer Learning • Additional Electives • Enhanced Induction • CO13003: Professional Development module

  9. Induction • Need to address • Social Integration • Academic Support • Academic and Regulatory Structures • Data Quality Management • Leadership and Management • Action Plan • Programme Suite Specific • Computing, Information Systems, Interactive Media Design • Schedule • the first five minutes • day minus 7 till ………. • reiterate

  10. Day 1 Morning - Icebreaking - 30 minute group activities • Low-cost prizes given for a range of categories (e.g. best, fastest, smallest, noisiest etc) • Big Bubble Contest (Noisy and competitive) • Bubble blowing • Photograph taken on own mobile telephone • Bluetooth photograph to tutor’s laptop • Displayed on data projector • 30 Grams of Rice (Quiet but messy) • Given 100 grams rice plus containers,squared paper etc • Devise a method to estimate 30 grams • Area, volume, counting etc • Things Beginning with… (Quiet) • Given a picture with many different objects • Asked to find as many objects as possible beginning with the letter … • Egg Catcher (Noisy, chaotic and messy) • Given access to scrap materials (think Scrapheap Challenge) • Make egg catcher • Egg dropped from 12 feet above

  11. Day 1 - Lunchtime - Forming Personal Tutorial Groups • The students were given 15 minutes to form themselves into groups of 5 or 6 using a set of rules to minimise risks of social isolation (e.g. a group could not include a sole member of either gender, a group could not have only one under 18 year old etc). • Each group was instructed to complete an urban orienteering task, have lunch and be back by a specified time. • At the end of this session the students had bonded into self-selected groups and discovered their way around the campus.

  12. CO13003: Professional Development: Delivery • Blended Learning • Paperless • Four F2F learning events per week • Focused learner questions (FLQs) • Experts & Specialists used when possible • On-line learning • Learning activities • Discussions • Blogs • ePortfolio (low-tech version) • Directed Study • On-line Assessment • Deadline: Sunday, 23:59 • On-line Feedback • Grade Book • Tasks & Assignments Students really like vista …. and on line submission

  13. CO13003: Professional Development: Communication • F2F • Class • By appointment • Corridor • Napier e-mail • “end of week summary” on Saturday • Vista e-mail • “end of week summary” on Saturday (copy) • Vista announcements • Vista discussions • Vista chat • Skype (video conferencing) Oh ! .. the personal voting system

  14. CO13003: Professional Development: Tasks • 250 word pen picture & digital photograph (week 1) • 300 word self-reflection "What type of learner am I and what implications does this have for my university studies?” (week 2) • 300 word self-reflection "How am I hoping my course will help me achieve my current aspirations ?” (week 3) • With reference to the recommended template, develop a current curriculum vitae (CV) as word document. (week 4) • Develop a personal Blog and make at least one entry per week over a four week period. (week 9)

  15. CO13003: Professional Development: Assignments • 750-800 word self-report titled "A first destination after graduation ?" to incorporate a job specification with essential and desirable requirements. In doing so, consider your personal and professional development requirements. (20 marks) (week 5) • Personal Development Plan, 500 word Reflective Report, Portfolio of Artifacts (40 marks) (week 12) • As part of your Personal Tutorial Group you are required to develop and give a ten-minute presentation on the theme “Video Games in Contemporary Society”using PowerPoint (40 marks) (week 13) • the  grading criteria for this assignment will be agreed by the class in your tutorial session in week 11

  16. Measuring Engagement

  17. Measuring Engagement ? • Students registered attendance on Tracker • Lecture • Tutorial • All • At least one • Students submitted Task 1 by end of week 1 • Students received feedback on Task 1 by end of week 2 • Students submitted four Tasks and an Assignment by end of week 5

  18. Measuring Engagement ? • Class of 135 students • logged 10543 virtual environment sessions during the semester • 18 general discussion topics & 25 group discussion topics • generated 694 messages (only 15 by the module leader) • combined reading total of 174120 times

  19. Measuring Engagement ? M = Merit, P=Pass, F=Fail, NA=Non-Attender Comparison of Professional Development Module Results

  20. Measuring Engagement ? • Initial analysis of the overall student performance of the First Year 2006/07 (first diet) • 76% of students successfully completing all modules • further 5% carrying a single non-completion

  21. Measuring Engagement ? • By the end of Week 2 • Social Committee formed • By the end of week 3 • Five programme representatives elected • By the end of Week 5 • New Napier Anime Society (October 24, November 7) • Invited to give a guest presentation • LAN Party (November 3) • LumpSucker Gig Advertised (November 21) • Four students registered interest in “Getting involved in working with Napier” • New semester 2 elective (C++) • 23 students - all passed, 18 merits • Semester 2 • Feedback from lecturers perceived the students to be more outgoing and confident in comparison to previous years.

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