Enhancing the First Year Experience through structured social integration and personal and professional development: Ref

1. Enhancing the First Year Experience through structured social integration and personal and professional development: Reflections on a year of innovation. Ian Smith Senior Lecturer & Teaching Fellow SoC PDP Champion, Napier University Anne MacNab, Personal Development Facilitator, Confident Futures, Student Affairs, Napier University

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. Using the Clicker

4. James Bond is best personified by �� David Niven Sean Connery George Lazenby Roger Moore Timothy Dalton Pierce Brosnan Daniel Craig

5. My primary role is �� Chalk-face Teaching Student Support Academic Development Research Administration Quality Enhancement Other

6. Year 1 Engagement Model

7. Enculturating the First Year student

8. My most memorable moment as a student was �. Academic in context Social in context Other

9. Most useful part of my degree was �� Content related Process related

10. The Graduate�s Journey

11. Induction is a week long activity Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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.

15. The optimum First Year class size is 5 students 10 students 25 students 50 students 100+ students Other

16. Timetabled Groups Plenary (All Students) Personal Tutorial (6 students) Practical/Tutorial (24 students, 4 Personal Tutorial Groups

17. Attendance is a good measure of engagement Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

18. Tracker Attendance monitoring Students have key fobs with ids Self contained baton maintains a record Data downloaded to SQL Server based application Instant data for Students, Tutors, Year Leader The technology-assisted tracking system in conjunction with the on-line tracking tool within WebCT, and the introduction of early assessment proved very effective in enabling early intervention during the formative weeks but had limited impact on attendance during the later weeks of the semester.

19. Engagement is a one-way process Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

20. All students can be engaged by the end of week 1 Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

21. Measuring Engagement

22. 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

23. 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

24. Measuring Engagement ? Progression target= 70% Analysis of the overall student performance (first diet) of the First Year 2006/07 76% of students successfully completing all modules further 5% carrying a single non-completion

25. 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 LAN Party LumpSucker Gig Advertised New semester 2 elective (C++) Semester 2 Feedback from lecturers perceived the students to be more outgoing and confident in comparison to previous years.

26. Empowering the First Year student

27. Empowerment is about Personal Development (PD) Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

28. Academic staff perceive PD to be a distraction Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

29. Students perceive PD to be a distraction Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

30. PDP is about integrating Employability Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

31. PDP focus @ Napier Core aims The enhancement of student academic learning and achievement, career planning & personal development abilities and understanding To support Napier students �to be highly valued by employers, the sector & the community�* both now & in the future *As articulated in Napier's LTA Strategy, Promoting Learning for Achieving Potential  Help personalise the HE experience for each student Help students to make best use of the personal and professional opportunities their modular programme provides Provide them with a variety of opportunities, activities & mechanisms that support them to develop well-founded confidence as a result of increased self-knowledge and informed decision-making that will enable them to meet their full potential http://www.napier.ac.uk/ed/pdf/LTA_Final_2005_1.pdf Help personalise the HE experience for each student Help students to make best use of the personal and professional opportunities their modular programme provides Provide them with a variety of opportunities, activities & mechanisms that support them to develop well-founded confidence as a result of increased self-knowledge and informed decision-making that will enable them to meet their full potential http://www.napier.ac.uk/ed/pdf/LTA_Final_2005_1.pdf

32. Achieved through: Supporting students to: personalise their HE experience make best use of personal and professional development opportunities their modular programme provides  Providing opportunities, activities & mechanisms to support students in developing well-founded confidence through increased self-knowledge informed decision-making Supporting staff and providing a range of staff development opportunities & support mechanisms

33. Key PDP components Developing the confident learner is being helped by: Stimulating & useful inductions/orientation Appropriate personal development tutor contact, support & activities Options/choices designed into programme Enhanced learning opportunities in programme Inbuilt high quality personal development E-portfolio that encourages self-evaluation and planning activities of recognition, reflection, modification, collection, selection & recording Empowered, enthusiastic and confident staff

34. Personal & Professional Development Planning in School of Computing, Napier University Determining a solution

35. Bolt-On (additional to curriculum) Skills Awards Skills Checklist Open online learning Optional portfolio Confident Futures ?

37. Parallel but not integrated Personal Development Tutoring Optional zero weighted PDP activities Confident Futures ? Skills Weeks Holistic Week 1 Weeks 14 & 15

38. PDP Rich Modules Point of Entry - Personal & Professional Development Co-curricular Volunteering Mentoring Student representative Career Development Entrepreneurship Work based learning Capstone modules Honours Projects Portfolio module (Burgess ?)

39. Embedded in the curriculum Embedded in all or most modules Synthesizes across modules Ways of working students (and staff) Use theme (streams) structures within programmes to develop skillsets and portfolios

40. Encouraging Student Reflection

41. Students are naturally reflective Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

42. Reflection is a key factor in the development of portfolios Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

43.

44. Portfolios are better suited to certain subject areas Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

45. Portfolios need to be integrated into the curriculum Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

46. Portfolios should be assessed Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

47. Professional Development Module: Formative Tasks 250 word pen picture & digital photograph (week 1) 150 word reflective report on Confident Futures Workshop - Knowing Yourself (week 2) 300 word self-reflection "What type of learner am I and what implications does this have for my university studies?� (week 3) 300 word self-reflection "How am I hoping my course will help me achieve my current aspirations ?� (week 4) With reference to the recommended template, develop a current curriculum vitae (CV) as word document. (week 5) 150 word reflective report on Confident Futures Workshop - Learned Optimism (week 5) 150 word reflective report on Confident Futures Workshop - Interacting with Others (week 8)

48. Professional Development Module: Summative Tasks A 1000 word essay on the theme "Bill Gates - A Biography. Personal Action Plan, Reflective Report & Portfolio With reference to your reflective report and your PDP plan, compile a portfolio of artefacts that illustrate your personal development over this semester. Individual artefacts may take the form of text, images, audio or video. You may also submit links to blogs or appropriate personal websites. All relevant documents should be appropriately named in a section of your ePortfolio with relevant access rights provided to your tutors. A ten-minute presentation on the theme �Video Games in Contemporary Society� Group project Negotiated grading criteria

49. Today and Tomorrow �Introduction to PDP and the ePortfolio� for all students at point of entry Forward thinking at start of each trimester Better use of one2one interview mid-trimester Reflective review at end of each trimester. �Graduate Portfolio� module in final year.

50. A Final Thought It must be tremendously interesting to be a schoolmaster, to watch boys grow up and help them along; to see their characters develop and what they become when they leave school and the world gets hold of them. I don't see how you could ever get old in a world that's always young. Katherine (Greer Garson), Goodbye Mr Chips (1939)