Rationale and aims:

1. Using Formative Group Projects with First Year Students to improve Attendance and promote Cohort CohesionDrDavid Dyke - University of Wolverhampton. Tel: 01902 323897. Email: d.w.dyke@wlv.ac.uk Rationale and aims: During the 2009/10 academic year, the attendance of first-year students, and their performance within some modules, was deemed to be problematic. Also, there were disparate groups within the cohort . The aim of the project is to develop a strategy to engage first-year engineering students both with their lectures, in terms of attendance, and their peers, in terms of cohort cohesion. Activity: An activity has been developed whereby the students, in groups of six, are required to design a support beam within specific weight and bending stress limits. Each group is required to keep minutes of meetings, detailing discussions surrounding the cross-section and composition of the beam. The workload is required to be distributed democratically. For beam construction, the students have access to Plaster of Paris and whatever materials deemed necessary to strengthen the beam. Expected benefits: Students found the beam project to be a valuable experience as it provided them with an opportunity to work in groups at an early stage of their time at university. The project also enabled the students to gain ‘effective employee’ skills by undertaking the project work with minimal guidance from the academics Unexpected benefits: The group project helped international students develop confidence through peer support. This is important since for many international students this is an introduction to independent learning in a university environment where they are expected to take responsibility for their own study. Final comments: The project is to be used annually to ensure first year engineering students are engaged with their programmes and their peers at an early stage of their studies. It is proposed to ask an employer to suggest a different project challenge for the students to undertake that encompasses the development of the same set of ‘effective employee’ skills.