1 / 19

Exploring links between personal attributes and the first-year student experience

Exploring links between personal attributes and the first-year student experience. A Browitt, L Walker, J H McColl. Background. Retention Work here and elsewhere has shown factors affecting student retention are more than previous academic attainment: Motivation Commitment Determination

bcarlson
Download Presentation

Exploring links between personal attributes and the first-year student experience

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Exploring links between personal attributes and thefirst-year student experience A Browitt, L Walker, J H McColl

  2. Background • Retention • Work here and elsewhere has shown factors affecting student retention are more than previous academic attainment: • Motivation • Commitment • Determination • Confidence Aim to investigate whether certain measurable personal attributes are predictors of success and persistence of first-year students and identify changes in these attributes over the first semesters at University to inform future retention initiatives.

  3. Method and measures • Online Survey • Initially July-Sept 2009 linked to WebSURF account of new entrants and reminder emails – to collect baseline data • Stratified random sample of half initial survey respondents emailed link in teaching weeks 9-11 – Semester 1 data • Remaining half of study participants emailed link in teaching weeks 25-27 – Semester 2 data • Measures • Self-esteem (Rosenberg) • Self-efficacy (Schwarzer) • Resilience (Block) • Hope (Snyder) • Mindset (Dweck)

  4. Survey response rates • Baseline • Approx 15% of all new entrants to the University completed survey • 1098 responses from undergraduates ~19% • 407 responses from postgraduates ~9.5% • Semester 1 • Approx 42% of the 748 students contacted completed survey • 220 responses from undergraduates • 93 responses from postgraduates • Semester 2 • Approx 33% of the 742 students contacted completed survey • 165 responses from undergraduates • 78 responses from postgraduates

  5. Baseline – Mindset scores

  6. Baseline – mean scores • UG PG P-value* • n=1097 n=407 • Mindset 3.65 3.90 <0.001 • Self Efficacy 31.4 31.8 0.066 • Self Esteem 30.8 31.2 0.086 • Resilience 2.99 2.98 0.13 • Hope: Total 25.1 25.1 0.83 • Hope: Agency 12.8 12.8 0.50 • Hope: Pathway 12.2 12.3 0.48 • * Mann-Whitney test of equal population medians

  7. Baseline – mean scores for UG students • Female Male P-value* • n=675 n=422 • Mindset 3.60 3.73 0.031 • Self Efficacy 31.2 31.8 0.0044 • Self Esteem 30.4 31.4 <0.001 • Resilience 2.98 3.01 0.13 • Hope: Total 25.1 25.0 0.22 • Hope: Agency 13.0 12.6 <0.001 • Hope: Pathway 12.2 12.4 0.11 • * Mann-Whitney test of equal population medians

  8. Baseline – mean scores for UG students • Arts Eng Educ LBSS Med Sci Vet • n = 296 92 81 226 78 270 43 • Mindset 3.47 3.83 3.87 3.72 3.75 3.60 3.51 • Efficacy 30.9 31.7 31.0 31.7 32.6 31.2 32.8 • Esteem 29.7 32.0 31.0 30.8 32.0 30.7 32.3 • Resil 2.98 3.05 3.03 2.94 3.12 2.97 3.10 • H: Tot 24.4 25.4 25.6 25.1 26.4 24.9 26.2 • H: Ag 12.5 12.8 13.2 12.9 13.6 12.6 13.7 • H: Path 11.9 12.6 12.4 12.2 12.7 12.3 12.5 • Kruskal-Wallis test of equal population medians gives p<0.001 in all cases

  9. Baseline – mean scores for UG students

  10. Baseline – mean scores for UG students

  11. Baseline – mean scores for PG students • < 25 yrs 25+ yrs P-value* • n=171 n=236 • Mindset 3.85 3.93 0.44 • Self Efficacy 31.3 32.3 0.022 • Self Esteem 30.5 31.6 0.0070 • Resilience 2.93 3.01 0.027 • Hope: Total 24.8 25.3 0.046 • Hope: Agency 12.6 12.9 0.031 • Hope: Pathway 12.2 12.4 0.20 • * Mann-Whitney test of equal population medians

  12. Mean changes till end-Semester 1 • UG (n=220) PG (n=93) UG vs. PG • Mean P-value§ Mean P-value§ P-value* • Mindset -0.25 <0.001 -0.35 0.001 0.71 • Efficacy -0.30 0.023 -0.08 0.91 0.21 • Esteem -0.42 0.033 -0.26 0.46 0.60 • Resil -0.04 0.011 -0.04 0.043 0.58 • H: Tot -0.56 <0.001 -0.40 0.097 0.81 • H: Ag -0.35 <0.001 -0.38 0.014 0.72 • H: Path -0.23 0.019 -0.07 0.78 0.30 • § Wilcoxon signed ranks test of zero median change • * Mann-Whitney test of equal population median changes

  13. Changes in Mindset till end-Semester 1

  14. Mean changes till end-Semester 2 • UG (n=165) PG (n=78) UG vs. PG • Mean P-value§ Mean P-value§ P-value* • Mindset -0.18 0.001 -0.24 0.022 0.84 • Efficacy -0.42 0.054 0.06 0.96 0.32 • Esteem -0.73 0.007 -0.26 0.32 0.44 • Resil -0.07 0.002 0.01 0.77 0.030 • H: Tot -0.68 0.005 -0.24 0.25 0.46 • H: Ag -0.55 <0.001 -0.13 0.32 0.079 • H: Path -0.11 0.46 -0.21 0.19 0.49 • § Wilcoxon signed ranks test of zero median change • * Mann-Whitney test of equal population median changes

  15. Baseline – mean scores for UG students • (1) (2) (3) • WD GP<10 GP10+ (1)vs.(3) (2)vs.(3) • n=31 n=60 n=824 P-value* P-value* • Mindset 3.58 3.62 3.62 0.71 0.98 • Efficacy 31.7 31.0 31.4 0.68 0.39 • Esteem 30.0 30.4 30.6 0.29 0.57 • Resil 3.00 2.91 2.99 0.82 0.036 • H: Tot 25.2 24.3 25.0 0.71 0.039 • H: Ag 12.7 12.4 12.8 0.89 0.048 • H: Path 12.5 11.9 12.2 0.24 0.088 • * Mann-Whitney test of equal population medians

  16. Summary of key findings • Mean responses for each measure appear to be in line with published findings from other studies • But there is quite a spread of results for each measure • Comparing PG and UG at baseline – PG scores are no lower and in some measures are significantly higher than UG (mindset, self-efficacy, self-esteem) • Most significant demographic variables for UG are Faculty and Gender • Most significant demographic variable for PG is age • Means for every measure decrease by end of Semester 1– all differences significant for UG • Means for every measure decrease by end of Semester 2 but less pronounced • Differences over one or two semesters are smaller for PG. In Semester 2 retest changes in Self-efficacy and Resilience are not negative. • It was not possible to demonstrate a difference in measures between officially withdrawn students and those successful in Semester 1 assessment (GPA10+)

  17. Preliminary conclusions • Findings have demonstrated that the measured personal attributes have been challenged during first semesters at the University. • PG students are generally less affected than UG – older and experienced in HE? Graduate attributes? • It’s too early in the study to show any link between persistence and attributes – non-continuation after Year 1 required to follow the University standard retention measure, therefore, longitudinal follow-up for participants is necessary. • It would be advantageous to repeat the study to strengthen the sample size for statistical correlations. • Principal Component Analysis was carried out and indicated there may be some redundancy in measures – could lose one set to shorten questionnaire and encourage larger response.

  18. Implications for practice • How can these personal attributes be enhanced? Some ideas… • Training around the concepts eg. growth mindset. • Relationships provide validation and reassurance – with peers, academic & non-academic staff fostered by for example: • Active and collaborative learning; • Feedback on assessment; • Communities of learning. • Effective goal-setting – challenges that are achievable.

  19. Acknowledgements • Our thanks go to: • Retention Working Group and Prof Andrea Nolan for supporting the proposal and providing resource • Emily Cutts and the Centre for Confidence and Well-being • Maxine Swingler, Department of Psychology • Lauren Robinson, Statistics Honours project student • All the University of Glasgow students who have participated in the study

More Related