The secret of their success
The Secret of their success: Utilising
experienced students' self reflection
to support new learners
Richard Sober
Teesside University
The secret of their success
How often do we consider why our students do well?
Does more thought go into why students don’t succeed?
How can we involve students in passing on what they have learnt ?
What we did
Surveyed and interviewed new students during welcome week to find out their fears
and what they thought would be important to succeed
Nothing really…
Carried out questionnaires and interviews with recent graduates
at the New
Designers Exhibition in London
probably just the workload and getting through
the reading list and mainly worrying about
year
to astudents
level I amto
satisfied
Developed a pre induction and new studentcompleting
handbookmy
forfirst
final
year
pass
with…
on their tips and advice to new students and I know that I have the potential to do really well but
whether I lack creativity in my ideas is another story…
And I am worried about not enjoying the
course as much as I thought and being able
to get along with people on my course’
The secret of their success
The new student
Nothing really…
probably just the workload and getting through the
reading list and mainly worrying about completing my
first year to a level I am satisfied with…
and I know that I have the potential to do really well but
whether I lack creativity in my ideas is another story…
And I am worried about not enjoying the course as
much as I thought and being able to get along with
people on my course’
The secret of their success
Why do new students worry about failing?
David Cannon ‘The surprised newcomer’
worried they don’t fit in, self critical and worry about getting things right
obsessed with getting all the details and handbooks and crave predictability,
often seen in mature students
Moira Peelo
‘students prior expectations of undergraduate courses can cast long shadows
and the first terms can bring frustration and disappointment as well as
excitement and new experiences… for others experiencing failure is not
about external criteria, but about falling below their own , personal
standards’
Results show new students do have fears:
•The unexpected
•Wondering how they ‘measure up’
•Confidence related
The secret of their success
The Graduate Survey
‘Be prepared to work hard for long hours, its
harder than you think! ‘ (De Montfort)
‘Be prepared for the workload. It is not a degree
it is a full time job! ‘ (Northumbria)
‘Time management, confidence in my
ability, professionalism, being able to
take and accept criticism and use it to
push forward ‘(Leeds )
‘My confidence has grown. I was
insecure about my abilities but now I
am more confident and my grades
have reflected it’ (Northumbria)
‘I have become more confident in my
work and more independent ‘
(Teesside)
The secret of their success
‘Obtaining my first class honours
after all my hard work’
(Buckingham)
‘First class degree and top of class’
(Northumbria)
‘Getting a first’ (Falmouth)
‘100% commitment to your course, no
messing about, no social life, just hard work,
its worth it’ (De montfort)
‘Hard work and a lot of commitment, I am
not naturally talented but I have
compensated with a strong work ethic’
(Northumbria)
‘Hard work and solid commitment ‘
(Falmouth)
‘Perseverance, dedication & sleepless nights’
(Writtle college)
The secret of their success
Highest achieving students:
•Hard working and driven
•Organised
•Perceive success in terms of marks
Conclusions
Success can be getting into university itself rather than completing a course
Failure can be a personal perception of not matching their own personal standards
Failing, withdrawing or dropping out might be a successful personal choice (Peelo &
Wareham 2003)
Learning how to learn can help students manage success and failure
Greater integration between levels, passing on of advice between students
The Alternative Student
Handbook is a project
designed to bridge the gap
between final year
students and new starters
Project Aims:
• To harness the knowledge of experienced learners
and provide opportunities to disseminate to new
students.
• To make learner self reflection more applied and
purposeful and enhance their understanding of this
process.
• To facilitate a form of group mentoring between
different course levels and student cohorts.
• To use the student voice and the creative skills of
design students to develop and disseminate preinduction and new learner guides in a format that will
appeal and be accessible to other design students.
Reflection
Donald Schon: ‘common sense’ reflective
practitioner - a mental process with an
outcome or purpose to aid future tasks
Reflection is often very private and internal
process unless students need to articulate
it in PDP modules- ‘are we doing it right?’
Applied reflection & Self reflection:
•Applied for a student handbook
•Helps learners articulate their strategies
for learning, coping,
progressing &
succeeding
•Valuable element of personal
development modules
•Assessing own strengths and areas for
improvement
•Project and time management
Mentoring
‘Mentoring in this way can fast track
development and aid coping with new
experiences ’ (Morton-Cooper & Palmer 2000)
Making it part of a module and group based avoids
the ‘toxic mentor’ (Darling 1985) that only highlights
barriers to their performance
• Mentoring in the form of passing on knowledge
• Not necessarily one to one but sharing of ideas,
feelings & methods
• Opportunity for students to interact between
levels
Project Brief
Working in teams and using their knowledge
and experience students produce an alternative
programme handbook that can be made
available to new learners.
This can be in the form of a website, blackboard
pages, power point or any other form that can
be made available electronically.
A positive and supportive document from a
student perspective
Creative concepts can be funny, inspiring,
irreverent and original.
Different to the official programme handbook
Work: Key themes students have included: Work
•Personal learning strategies
•Time and project management
•Understanding and following assessment criteria
•Planning work
•The effective use of feedback
•Using tutors and what you can expect from them
Play: Key themes students have included:
• Where to live
• Coping with loneliness and personal problems
• Social scene recommendations
• Low cost recipes, shopping and financial advice
• Making the most of the whole student
experience
• Balancing work and play
Conclusions
• Students benefit from the reflection and understand the reflective process better when it is
applied
• Students have proved very supportive and loyal towards their programmes, university and
town
• Creative concepts appeal to creative students but other subjects can display their own
strengths
• Staff should be open to a little irreverence, but students are surprisingly not too controversial
• Helps forge links between course levels, fostering a community culture and, therefore, aiding
NSS performance and retention
Next stages:
• To evaluate what new students think of them next year
• Create a more formal mentoring process between students
• Consider how other subject disciplines can develop similar sites