Economics 178 The first year experience

1. Economics 178 The first year experience Improving the performance of first-year Economics students by means of an innovative summer school programme – An evaluation PM Horn & AI Jansen

2. Our First-Year Class

3. Outline of Presentation • Introduction • Why a summer school? • Background • First-year course • The Summer School programme • Lectures & tutorials • Disciplinary procedures • Assessment • Qualitative Analysis • Interviews • Lessons Learnt

4. Introduction • Why the need for a summer school programme? • Concern about pass rates at Department, Faculty & University Level • Flow through of students to senior Economics courses restrained • Repeating course has financial implications

5. Background: First-Year Course Economics 178 • Currently a year course, non-elective for all BCom students in Economic & Management Sciences (EMS) faculty • Elective for students from other faculties • One of the largest enrolments in EMS Faculty • Enrolment still increasing: from 1668 students (2002) to 2024 students (in 2007) – 21%

6. Success Rates

7. Economics 178 Enrolment statistics

8. Success Rates • Average pass rate of 65% for Economics 178 • Low (compared to Faculty (74%) & University averages (81%))

9. Possible Remedy to improve Success Rates? • EMS Faculty initiated and implemented Summer school programme in January 2007 • Results – 89% pass rate • Statistics for the 2007 enrolment: • 80.3% fledging first year enrolment • 19.66% repeaters • Decrease of 6% in the repeat rate enrolment

10. Summer schoolRequirements for entry • Students had to have qualified for the final exams • Students had to have written the final exam and failed this exam • If students failed the first exam but qualified for a re-evaluation, they had to have made use of the second opportunity and again failed, to qualify for the summer school

11. Summer schoolLectures • Seventeen 3-hour sessions comprising all content covered during year course • All lectures compulsory – Van Walbeek (2004) found that lecture attendance improved performance. • Students not allowed to commence late with the programme • 3 Lecturers (from Economics Department) teaching different themes

12. Summer school - Tutorials • Tutors all Honours or Masters students • All experienced tutors (received extensive training with the assistance of the university's Centre for Teaching and Learning) • Tutorials compulsory • Group sizes were approximately 30 students • Tutorial homework consisted of exercises covering the chapters completed • Purpose of exercises: • ensure that students revise the chapters covered • test their understanding of the literature • ensure that they participate actively during programme • Marburger (2005)supports cooperative active learning where problems had a direct practical connection to work

13. Summer schoolAssessment • Two tests and an examination (weights similar to those in year course) • Type of questions and format of tests and the examination identical to those year course • Assessments set by the first-year lecturers and internally moderated • Students had to obtain entrance to the examination - predicate (course mark) of at least 40% • Students not allowed to submit any leave of absences for either tests or examinations • All registered students wrote both tests and the examination

14. Summer schoolDisciplinary procedures • Students informed from the start that a) attendance of lectures and tutorials monitored, and b) if they did not attend lectures & tutorials, registration of course cancelled • Card-swiping machine used • If missed one lecture, students called in to provide reason (only allowed to miss once, if valid reason provided e.g. medical certificate) • Rower (1993) – mandatory attendance could lead to a possible improved performance. Stanca (2006) – motivated students will attend all lectures – exogenous motivation by mandatory attendance.

15. Summer School Results

16. Interviews Qualitative Analysis • From the 178 students on the summer school, 10 students agreed to a 40 minute personal interview. • Nine students arrived for the interviews, which was conducted by the authors. • Of the nine students, one student had failed the summer school. • Of the remaining eight students, three students continued with second-year economics.

17. Qualitative Analysis The interview focused on the following aspects: • motivation for attending the summer school • how students experienced the management of the programme (discipline; compulsory attendance, etc.) • teaching techniques applied (different lecturers teaching different themes; length of lecture sessions) • active learning techniques (homework exercises; tutorial sessions and group work techniques applied) • impact of summer school experiences on second year of study • attitude towards Economics as a discipline

18. Interviews – Some Results

19. Interviews – Some Results

20. Some Lessons Learnt • Tutorials allowed students to engage with peers in small, interactive groups – increased opportunity to learn • Attending only one course during this period • Enthusiasm and encouragement of lecturers and tutors contributed to success achieved • Experienced staff important

21. Concluding Remarks • It is apparent that strict discipline, mandatory attendance of lectures and tutorials, attending only one module at a time, motivated students, and repetition of work still relatively fresh in the minds of students, contributed to the success of this summer school. Questions?