The STAR Project Student Transition and Retention

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The STAR ProjectStudent Transition and Retention

• Lessons from the STARS
• Good Practice in Student Retention
• Brian S. Rushton
• Star_at_ulster.ac.uk
• BS.Rushton_at_ulster.ac.uk

Universities of Brighton, Liverpool Hope,
Manchester, Sunderland and Ulster
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The STAR Project (Student Transition And
Retention)

• Funded by FDTL4 until summer 2007, continuing on
  a consultancy basis
• Consortium of
• University of Ulster (Tony Cook)
• University of Brighton (Steve Waite)
• Liverpool Hope University (Liz Gayton)
• University of Manchester (Helen Richardson)
• University of Sunderland (Mark Davies)
• Identify and disseminate good practice in
  managing student transition

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... an alternative title ...

• Piece of graffiti on STAR Conference poster
  advertising Student Retention
• Chuck the lazy gits out!

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The STAR project

• Four themes
• Prior to entry
• Appropriate expectations
• Matching student to course
• Induction
• Pre teaching
• Extended
• Curriculum development
• Matching course to student qualifications
• Support subjects
• Staff development
• Raising staff awareness - things have changed
• Teaching, learning and assessment practices

Time line
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STAR activities

• Survey of BioScience departments
• Selection of likely good practice
• Staff interviews to document good practice
• Student focus groups to validate good practice
• Publish good practice on the web
• Publish paper based booklets
• Sponsor mini-projects

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Managing transition
Independent, enthusiastic, involved, motivated,
communicative, present, sober
End point
?
Start point
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Why do students leave early?
8 9 69 143
Data from University of Ulster 2001/2
(institutional data)
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Decision making
STAY
LEAVE
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Capable v Incapable

• All admitted have the potential to succeed
• Not all start in the same place

• Solutions
• Realistic expectations
• Flexible curricula assuming student diversity
• Proactive support

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Solutions

• Honest visit days
• Pre-entry student mentoring
• Accurate literature
• Awareness of student attributes

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Coping v Overwhelmed

• Culture shock of higher education
• First generation students
• New social contexts
• Away from home / financial management
• New academic expectations
• Independence / time management

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Solutions

• Extended induction
• Longitudinal induction, year induction
• Tutorial support (small group teaching)
• Transitional methods
• Look at pre-entry qualifications
• Look at pre-entry assessment methods
• Enhance support for HE study skills

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Integration v Isolation

• Students who feel they belong are less likely
  to leave
• Social
• Approachable staff
• Cohort cohesiveness
• Academic
• Does the subject meet their aspirations?
• Short term
• Long term

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Solutions

• Integrate home students with residential ones
• Homestart (University of Manchester)
• Social induction
• Clubs, trips, social events
• Residential field trips, outings with or without
  an academic context
• Student mentoring
• Identify and meet aspirations
• Vocational curriculum
• Start from where they are not where you would
  like them to be

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U-decide, University of Glasgow

• Workshops designed to allow attendees to
• Make SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
  Realistic and Time specific) decisions
• Access people and resources to help them make
  their own decisions
• Assess the relationship between their present
  studies and other qualifications
• Evaluate their choice of programme

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U-decide, University of Glasgow

• Aimed at potential students in
• Schools
• Further Education
• Access courses
• The Community

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U-decide, University of Glasgow

• Typical feedback comments from workshop
  attendees
• I never fully appreciated the things that could
  happen, like short-term money problems to buy
  equipment that you need for your studying and a
  lot of things that a lot of people dont think
  about. And it also made you think about your
  life, breaking it down into small sections. And
  the presentation got you to look at yourself and
  made you more self-aware of what actual
  commitments you had. And the case studies were
  informative because there was a single person
  with kids that was trying to go back and get off
  the benefit system and found out what her
  priorities were and what she had to do to meet
  them. It was very informative.

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Bridging the Gap, University of Sunderland

• Range of related pre-entry bridging modules
  developed for all undergraduate courses
• Use on-line delivery including video-conferencing
  and message boards as well as help-lines

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Bridging the Gap, University of Sunderland

• Feedback from students
• Was good because I could use it any time of day.
• Encouraging to hear other students worries as
  well as receiving help and advice from tutors.
• Advice was good for those people who are unsure
  of what will be expected of them at university
  level.

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Bridging the Gap, University of Sunderland

• Feedback from students
• A positive feature was meeting other students
  finding out we were all in the same boat.
• Making friends before meeting up at university.
• Allowed you to contact students all over the
  country.

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Bridging the Gap, University of Sunderland

• Feedback from students
• A nice friendly introduction to the institution.
• Eased you slowly into university life.
• Good video clips of previous students and their
  experiences.

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Off-campus Residential Induction, University of
Ulster

• ... as an ice-breaker ...

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Off-campus Residential Induction, University of
Ulster
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Student Messenger, University of Brighton

• Using SMS text messaging to support students
• Some strong support that this method of keeping
  in touch with students gave them a sense of
  belonging
• It was nice ... University is such a big place,
  you sometimes feel a bit de-individualised so it
  was quite nice to know that someone is thinking
  about you or if you have got any worries or when
  your drop-in times are.

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Peer Guiding (Student Mentoring), University of
Wales (Bangor)

• Two comments
• I was worried about coming to university. My peer
  guide was really useful and helped me settle into
  life at Bangor. (Student)
• Some of the peer guides said they had first years
  coming to them to discuss issues connected to
  withdrawal and have actually managed to talk to
  them or refer them on for help so that they
  didnt leave. Sometimes its much easier to talk
  to someone whos been through it. (Lecturer)

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Tutorial Support, University of Ulster

• Seven principles of good practice in
  undergraduate teaching (Chickering and Gamson
  (1987))
• Encourage contact between students and staff
• Develop reciprocity and cooperation among
  students
• Active learning techniques
• Prompt feedback
• Emphasise time on task
• Communicate high expectations
• Respect diverse talents and ways of learning

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In conclusion

• Attrition is an institutional problem
• But may be a students solution
• Attrition is a multifactorial problem
• Many prior experiences are inappropriate
• Some students are disappointed
• Some students fail to adjust to independent
  living while others never really leave home
• Solution is

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The Holy Grail

• Strong support from the top administration
• High quality teaching, incentives and resources
• An emphasis on collaborative learning
• Groups tend to socialize as well as study and
  learn
• Frequent and immediate formative assessment
• students need a steady flow of feedback
• Tinto
• Mould and meet expectations STAR

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Tangible STAR Outcomes

• The STAR website
• The STAR Guidelines
• The STAR Transition Audit of current practice
• Published Case Studies
• Mini-project reports
• Group of people with expertise (consultancy)
• End of project conference (June 2007)

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The STAR Outcomes

• Published Case Studies 11 themes
• Student Transition and Retention An Overview
• Informing Students
• Community outreach Quality information
• Supporting Students
• Early induction Extended induction
• Student mentoring Tutorial support
• Course Design
• Special needs International students
• Supporting Staff Staff Development