Slide 1
Graham Daniel
Lesley Stoneman
Image from James, Krause and Jennings, 2010)
Slide 2
What is FYE?
Defined as the overall experience of students commencing their
first year of enrolment at university
“Everybody’s business”
(Kift, Nelson & Clarke, 2010, p. 1)
Slide 3
Why focus on FYE? And why now?

Bradley Review of Australian Higher Education (Bradley, 2008)
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Government aims for the higher education sector
“extending reach and enhancing quality” (DEEWR, 2009)
Social justice and economic imperatives

40% 25-34 year Australians to have an undergraduate degree by 2025

20% participation rate in higher education of students from low SES students by 2020

Financial imperatives
 Deregulation in higher education in 2012
 Government recommended indicators for performance based element of universities funding

Student participation and inclusion

Student experience (one measure being retainment rates; another being student satisfaction data)

Student attainment

Quality of learning outcomes (DEEWR, 2009)
 Costs of attrition to individual universities ($ per student)

CSU Degree Initiative - Curriculum renewal
 Student experience / Transitions program / Oweek

1st year significantly foundational for university success
(Harvey, Drew, & Smith, 2006; Krause, Hartley, James, & McInnis, 2005).
Slide 4
CSU attrition for 2008 cohort
Cohort
Starting 2008
Attrition Number
Attrition %
Distance
8892
2970
33.4%
On Campus
5381
952
17.7%
Total
14273
3922
These are after census withdrawals – i.e. does not include those in the
first few weeks of semester one who leave.
(CSU Transitions Project, 2010)
Slide 5
What are the aims of FYE strategies?
 First Year Experience approaches are intended to improve the
quality of the student’s university experience
 To improve completion rates (retention strategy)
 To improve quality of learning outcomes
 To address social justice imperative by addressing the support
needs of students from non-traditional university entrant
backgrounds (and all students)
Slide 6
Factors influencing FYE
 Personal
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Existing knowledges and skills
Personal commitment
Financial pressures
Health and wellbeing
(James, Krause & Jennings, 2010)
 Institutional
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Curriculum
Social
Administrative
(James, Krause & Jennings, 2010)
Slide 7
Factors influencing attrition or low engagement
of first year students
 Things we can do little about
 External factors that impact the student beyond referral processes (family
commitments; financial etc)
 Individual factors (beyond referral and support processes)
 Policy decisions – e.g. reductions in resources to university sector e.g., larger class
sizes and casualisation of the academic workforce are known to exacerbate student
disengagement (Kift, 2004).
 Things we can do something about
 Wellbeing
 Engagement
 Belonging
 “How to do university” knowledge (cultural capital)
 Skills development
Slide 8
The First Year Experience in Australian
universities
 2010 research of first year students across 9 Australian
Universities
 Full-time on campus students
 Research across 7 (1994/1999) and then 9 (2004/2009) Australian
Universities first year populations.
 In 2009 there were 2422 responses, a response rate of 24 per cent of
first year students from 9 metropolitan and large regional
Universities
(James, Krause & Jennings, 2010)
Slide 9
Transition pedagogy
 FYE focus is on supporting students in their first year in their transition
to university life and studies:
 Socially – physical, social and emotional resources for university
engagement and success
 Administrative – regulatory requirements for university success
enrolment, funding, systems etc
 Academically – skills building (intentional curriculum or
Transition pedagogy)
(Kift, Nelson and Clarke, 2010)
Slide 10
The First Year Experience in Australian universities
In the 1999 Cohort 35% had seriously considered deferring their course during the year…
important/
very imp.
Emotional health
56
Financial reasons
40
I thought I might fail
41
University wasn’t what I expected
34
I disliked studying
40
Physical health
30
Problems with daily travel
27
Paid work commitments
18
Family commitments
25
I found employment
17
Reasons for considering deferring, 1999-2004 (% of students) (n=840)
(Based on figures from James, Krause & Jennings, 2010).
 Study patterns
 Spend fewer days and less time on campus (15 hours per week on
average down from 17.6 in 1994)
 Spend less time in private study (10.6 hours per week i.e. spend less
than one hour of study outside of class for every course contact hour)
(was 11 hours in 1994)
 Use internet more for study (6.5 hours (SD 6.32) - up from 4.2 in 2004)
 Work patterns
 Are working more
 Students who work spend an average 13 hours per week in paid
employment
 Longer hours of work were associated with a lower grade point
average
 Social climate
 Less involved in on-campus extra-curricular activities
 Fewer students believe one of their teachers knows their name (58%
in 2009 down form 66% in 2004).
 Fewer believe academic staff show an interest in their progress (26% down form 2004 but up on earlier studies).
 Students reported making fewer close friends and more reported that
they kept to themselves.
http://www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/1B0F1A03-E7BC-4BE4-B45C735F95BC67CB/5885/FYEFinalReportforWebsiteMay06.pdf 2005
Table 2.4 Reasons for considering deferring, 1999-2004 (% of students) (1999, n=840; 2004,
n=638)
Females are more likely than males to say that emotional health and physical health are
important reasons for considering deferring, and males are more likely to cite disliking study
and thinking they might fail.
Slide 11
Needs of particular first year students in Australian universities
 Rural students
 Indigenous
 International
 Distance education
 Low SES
 Mature aged students
 First in family
(James, Krause & Jennings, 2010).

Low SES
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More likely to be rural
More likely to be first in family
More likely to be LOTE backgrounds
Concentrated in the fields of education and health
More likely to find study difficult and to be anxious about their results and the possibility of
failure.
Be influenced by parental expectations
Be focused on training for a particular job
Know the type of occupation they want
Report lower grades in semester 1
Find the standard higher than they had
expected (for school-leavers)
Considering deferring due to fear of failure
Have had difficulty adjusting to university
teaching
Have difficulty comprehending material
Find the workload heavy
Believe their parents have little
understanding of their university life (for
school-leavers)
Keep to themselves at university
Fye 2010 report
Slide 12
Rural background students
 Rural students in the 2009 study of Australian FYE reported
 less contented than their urban background counterparts
 report more difficulties adjusting to the style of university teaching (36 per cent
compared with 28 per cent)
 and more difficulties comprehending material(23 per cent compared with 17 per
cent).
 more likely to feel frequently overwhelmed by all they have to do (39 per cent
compared with 33 per cent).
 money worries, which interfere with their study (46 per cent compared with 30 per
cent).
 Similar proportions of rural and urban students seriously considered deferring or
discontinuing at some stage during first year
(James, Krause & Jennings, 2010).
Slide 13
Rural & remote students
 University of South Australia: Rural
Reconnect Project
 ??City based students in rural universities??
Initial orientation held for year 10 students, and contact maintained until entry to university.
Students from rural and isolated areas (RIS) express anxiety about issues such as
accommodation, financial challenges, social integration, and possible displacement of their
social and cultural capital; many need to learn “survival stuff” (life skills) if not taught in
home setting.
Slide 14
Indigenous students
 Report similar FYE issues as other cohorts
 In addition report
 lower retention rates
 higher satisfaction with universities living up to their expectations
(17% vs 4%) (possibly because of the establishment of indigenous
support units in universities?)
 Goal oriented from the start (90% vs 76%)
 more positive about the value of orientation programs (59% vs 44%)
(James, Krause & Jennings, 2010).
Slide 15
Queensland University of Technology Oodgeroo
Unit: Indigenous Knowledges
• Indigenous Australian education still consists of learning
about rather than learning from within (Western, deficit
perspective)
• Pre-orientation program (POP)
• Sessional program includes mentors, academic advisers,
and recognises differing indigenous timelines
• Who is deemed culturally safe to teach this content, and
who – at an institutional level – makes this decision?
* Question arises out of shortage of qualified indigenous Australian staff/students
Slide 16
University of Queensland: PBL
 Provides an Indigenous Australian perspective
within a Western framework
 “A shift in consciousness that alters our way of
being in the world”
 “White teaching black can result in emotional and
moral dilemmas”
(Mackinlay & Barney, 2010)
Participants in this session were asked to engage in a brief problem-based learning exercise
based upon the Hindmarsh Island bridge challenge, and some provocative research
questions arose including “Who has the right to determine if the indigenous women’s claims
are authentic, and, at an institutional level, who makes these decisions?”
Slide 17
Distance Education students
Deakin University Division of Student Life Online
Orientation
 http://www.deakin.edu.au/current-
students/transition/offcampus/index.php
Deakin University Division of Student Life: online orientation for DE students. This online
orientation site uses an avatar, “Sam”, to navigate new students to relevant university
services. The inclusion of url links ensures provision of current information. One of the main
challenges has been meeting the institution’s IT requirements. Future directions: use of a
“real” student voice rather than automated; development of further content based on
staff/student feedback; platform for online mentoring program; possible on-campus
version.
Slide 18
Technology: communication
University of Leicester
 podcasts to capture students’ hot knowledge
(possessing higher credibility as it originates from
the perspective of “experienced” students)
 video diaries to listen to students’ stories as they
transition and progress through their course.
Second-year students, in small groups, created podcasts for first-year students about issues
such as leaving home, how to earn money and survive financially, difference between school
and university, etc.
As students were instructed to talk about anything, these diaries provide a fascinating
insight into their social transition from home to university. (Everyone’s favourite was “Dave”
who claimed that he didn’t miss his family, because he’d spent the last 18 years of his life
with them!)
This concurs with my experience in the EEB104 mentoring experience, where first-year
students preferred the academic advice of second-year student mentors over that of the
teaching staff (an issue requiring attention).
Slide 19
QUT: So many channels, but is anyone listening?
Research questions:
 Are the multiple digital channels user-friendly and pedagogically
sound?
 Do they cater to different user groups?
 What do students prefer?
Results:
 First-year students prefer traditional methods (face:face, printed, or
brief online announcement) for communication of official
administrative/academic information
 They enjoy using online social networking, but prefer this to be used
solely for that
 If a digital (e.g., email) message from the university is longer than two
lines, students indicated that they won’t read it.
 This could be because “internet reading” has changed reading patterns.
DANGER @ CSU
Discussion resulted in some common issues amongst participants: too much information is
sent to students via multiple channels, resulting in “information overload” and conflicting
messages. (Many staff expressed their opinion that this occurs for them as well as
students.) The trend towards nomadic or mobile learners was also mentioned.
Slide 20
Mentoring schemes
• Griffith University: collaboration between
Student Administration and Academic Schools.
• University of Sydney
Griffith University: collaboration between Student Administration and Academic Schools.
This mentoring model includes features such as appointment of a first-year academic adviser
in each School, structured training for mentors and advisers, and provision of printed
mentor/mentee handbooks. Mentors are unpaid, although do receive incentives such as
pizza and coffee vouchers. They are trained to provide social, “general” advice, however this
sometimes conflicts with expectations of mentees seeking precise academic and
administrative advice. The key point was made that all mentors need to trained in how to
provide a clear and accurate referral service to mentees.
Uni of Sydney
: peer mentoring scheme, undergoing change. Initially, mentor groups were chosen by
course discipline, at a ratio of 1:8, and ran from O-week to end of Week 3. Challenges that
have arisen: increasing enrolment numbers; changing expectations of mentees, who seek
like-personalities rather than course discipline (i.e., socialisation rather than academic
guidance). The University have managed this mismatch by introducing the following
strategies: joint mentor group activities (e.g., campus scavenger hunt), firm guidelines,
provision of other options, use of testimonial quotes from previous participants, and online
forums.
Slide 21
Recommendations
 First year curriculum principles
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Transition
Diversity
Design
Engagement
Assessment
Evaluation and monitoring
(Kift, 2009)
Transition
The first year curriculum should be designed to mediate and support transition as a process
that occurs over time.
Diversity
The first year curriculum should be attuned to student diversity and must be accessible by, and inclusive of, all
students.
Design
First year curriculum design and delivery should be student-focussed, explicit and relevant in
providing the foundation and scaffolding necessary for first year learning success.
Engagement
Learning, teaching, and assessment approaches should enact an engaging and involving curriculum and
support the establishment of learning communities through the embedding in first year curriculum of active
and interactive learning opportunities and other opportunities for peer-to-peer collaboration and teacherstudent interaction.
Assessment
The first year curriculum should assist students to make a successful transition to assessment in higher
education. Students should receive regular, formative evaluations of their work early in their program of study
to aid their learning and to provide feedback to both students and staff on student progress and achievement.
Evaluation and monitoring
Good first year curriculum design is evidence-based and enhanced by regular evaluation that
leads to curriculum development and renewal designed to improve student learning.
Slide 22
Recommendations
 Recall to factors influencing FYE…

Personal
 Existing knowledges and skills
 Personal commitment
 Financial pressures
 Health and wellbeing

Institutional
 Curriculum
 Social
 Administrative
(James, Krause & Jennings, 2010
)
(James, Krause & Jennings, 2010)
Slide 23
Recommendations: On-campus students
 University O-Week - integrated model (Administration, academic and
support)
 Course based approach to first year
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Scaffolded assessment based approach (Transition pedagogy)
First-year adviser in each course
University appropriate pastoral care
Social fabric / support and engagement
Identifying “at-risk” students and scaffolding
First-year adviser in each course
Contact each student once accepted – establish relationship
Meet each student personally in O-Week - include Course student mentors
Maintain ongoing relationship with FY students
Facilitate mentor relationships
Slide 24
Recommendations - Distance education students
 online orientation
 For all DE students (Oweek strategy)
 For sessional staff (SOTE project)
 More innovative use of technology (e.g. pod-casts; avatar; etc)
Slide 25
References
References
Bradley, J. (Chair) (2008). Review of Australian Higher Education Final report. Commonwealth of Australia: Canberra.
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) (2009) An indicator framework for higher education
performance funding, discussion paper,
http://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Pages/IndicatorFramework.aspx
Harvey, L., Drew, S. and Smith, M. (2006). The first year experience: A literature review for the Higher Education Academy. Retrieved
27 August, 2010, from http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/publications/FYEFinalReport.pdf
James, R., Krause, K. and Jennings, C. (2010). The First Year Experience in Australian Universities: Findings from 1994 to 2009.
Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne.
Kift, S. (2009). Articulating a transition pedagogy to scaffold and to enhance the first year learning experience in Australian higher
education; Final Report for ALTC Senior Fellowship Program. Australian Learning and Teaching Council
http://www.altc.edu.au/system/files/resources/Kift%2C%20Sally%20ALTC%20Senior%20Fellowship%20Report%20Sep%2009.p
df
Kift, S., Nelson, K. and Clarke, J. (2010). Transition pedagogy: A third generation approach to FYE - A case study of policy and
practice for the higher education sector The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education Volume 1, Number 1, pp.
1-20
Kift, S. (2009). Articulating a transition pedagogy to scaffold and to enhance the first year
learning experience in Australian higher education; Final Report for ALTC Senior Fellowship
Program. Australian Learning and Teaching Council
http://www.altc.edu.au/system/files/resources/Kift%2C%20Sally%20ALTC%20Senior%20Fell
owship%20Report%20Sep%2009.pdf
Slide 26
References
References Cont’d.
Krause, K-L., Hartley, R., James, R. & McInnis, C. (2005). The first year experience in Australian universities: Findings from a decade
of national studies. Canberra, Australia: Australian Department of Education, Science and Training. Retrieved February 24,
2009, from http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/37491/FYEReport05.pdf
Mackinlay, E. and Barney, K. (2010) Transformative learning in first year Indigenous Australian studies: Posing problems, asking
questions and achieving change. A Practice Report .The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 1(1) pp. 91-99.
Additional readings
Hinton, L. (2007). Causes of attrition in first year courses in science foundation courses and recommendations for intervention.
Studies in Learning, Evaluation, Innovation and Development, 4(2), 13-26.
Marks, G. (2007). Completing university: Characteristics and outcomes of completing and non-completing students. Executive
summary. Longitudinal. Surveys of Australian Youth: Research Report 51. Retrieved May 4, 2008, from
http://www.acer.edu.au/documents/LSAY_execsum51.pdf