Title: Becoming a Psychology Undergraduate
1- Becoming a Psychology Undergraduate
- integrating study skills and integrating students
- Peter Reddy (Aston)
- Vanessa Parson (Aston)
- Alinka Greasley (Keele)
- Katherine Harrington (London Met.)
- James Elander (Thames Valley)
- Lin Norton (Liverpool Hope)
2An action research intervention Applying the
Assessment Plus project at Aston
- In 2002 we expanded our intake and became
concerned about our first year students - Poor referencing
- Poor essay writing
- Plagiarism
- Collusion
- First semester drop-out
- not to mention misuse of the apostrophe.
- We designed an action research intervention (2003
on) to address these concerns which has
increasingly dovetailed with the Assessment Plus
FDLT 4 project. - Has now run for three years
3The Assessment project
- Helping students improve essay writing - focus on
assessment criteria - Interpretation of assessment criteria within
disciplinary context - Help students tap into epistemology of discipline
- Facilitates acquisition of academic and
disciplinary identities - Three main resources downloadable at
www.assessmentplus.net - 1. A student's guide to assessment.
- 2. Assessment workshops.
- 3. Benchmarking manual for staff.
4What are core assessment criteria?
- Addressing the question
- Structuring the answer
- Demonstrating understanding
- Developing argument
- Using evidence
- Evaluating sources
- (Use of language)
5Formulating the problem
- Informal staff discourse in this context -
students are ignorant - lack skills knowledge
- And unscrupulous
- liable to behave strategically, plagiarise,
collude and cheat if not restrained or policed. - plagiarism approached only as a crime detection
problem - And quite possibly lazy, unmotivated, stupid and
uneducated - Students not seen as in transition to
professional standpoint and values - Staff not much concerned with education and growth
6Mind the gap The school to university shift
- Major transition (Tinto 1975)
- Shift in responsibility for learning from teacher
to student. - Fewer opportunities to interact with staff or
students. - University can be intimidating, hierarchical,
unwelcoming. - First 6 weeks important in forming relationships,
embedding students onto their course impact on
motivation, approach to study, achievement and
continuation (Cushman 1996). - A significant life transition loss of
- Familiar intimacy of structured school routine
- Teachers who know you personally
- Classes on a human scale
- Friends at home and school
- Parental support and living at home
7 Aims
- Belonging, involvement and excitement to promote
scholarship and engagement - Convey norms, expectations, rules of the game
the hidden curriculum of undergraduate study, how
to be a student - what is expected, what is
approved, what are the short cuts, what students
really do, what is out of order. - Locates support where it should occur naturally
in student peer group - Support both campus and home-based students
8The problem with study skills
- Norton and Crowley (1995), McCune and Entwistle
(2000) - stand-alone study skills were not always
successful. - Unpopular and boring especially for more able
students. - May be seen as promoting the official
curriculum, rather than the real / hidden
curriculum - Australian research (Biggs 1987, Watkins and
Hattie, 1985) suggests that students start with
an intention to take a deep approach to study but
this declines as they progress - Final years more likely to take a
surface/strategic approach. - We would like to convert first year good
intentions into long term practice.
9Three Versions
- Version 1 Six optional 1-hour Study skills
classes - Problems with stand-alone study skills
- Big investment by tutors - has a pay-off
- Version 2 Compulsory 1-hour Study skills
classes, Assessment material integrated into
1st year - Version 3 Eight 90-minute classes, Assessment
material as basis for activities, increasing
focus on embedding students socially and
emotionally into their programme.
10Content
- A range of tasks, activities, resources, topics
and slides representing a guide to running the
seminars put together by Alinka Greasley and
Vanessa Parson on CD for tutors. - Key topics are assessment criteria, essay
writing, report writing, referencing, using the
library literature search, plagiarism. We make
good use of the Assessment material - Content is important has to be credible - but
primary aim at start is to find / create
activities that are business-like, relevant and
pitched at the right level to allow students to
make relationships, engage in social comparison
11Version 3 (05/06)
- Designed to give students a transitional
experience, resemble an A level class, last 90
minutes. - Compulsory, marks given for attendance
- 71 model weekly for first 7 weeks, follow-up at
the start of semester two. - 20 students per class (two tutor groups), lots of
classroom activity and interaction so
opportunities to form relationships with peers
and teacher, same groups throughout year. - GTA / PG tutors - have credibility with students
12..continued
- Classes prepare for university study and initial
assessed essays in weeks 5 10. - Immediate credibility and usefulness of formative
tasks and activities as they help to build the
first essay - Key topics referencing, library / literature
search, plagiarism, assessment criteria, essay
writing, report writing, marking exercises (peer
marking feedback) - Fast feedback of classroom and homework formative
tasks enables social comparison and security - Cognitive change is important but secondary to
and consequent on social and emotional foundation
- Social emotional needs make relationships,
feel safe to ask questions, compare yourself with
others
13Social and Emotional Context of Learning
- Growth requires the right social and emotional
context. (Rogers) - Learning and reflection requires students to feel
safe, comfortable, relaxed and that they belong.
(Maslow) - Anxiety provokes surface approach to learning
(Gibbs) - Outcomes we seek
- Knowing what is expected, feeling able to achieve
it to allow interest, engagement, commitment to
flourish - We dont want students being bored, intimidated,
talked down to and turned off
14The Studies
- Programme is expensive 240 students 12 x 90
minute classes for 8 weeks 144 hours, so needs
to be evidence based - Cannot isolate variables to seek cause and effect
so build a picture from multiple perspectives - Attendance data related to
- focus group questionnaire response on
- grades for first two essays, 1st year overall
grade - second year overall grade for 2004 entry group
- progression
- friendship networks, belonging
- Combined honours students compare CH psychology
with CH non-psychology.
15Results version 1 (03-04)
- 74 completed questionnaires
- Positive response
- Suggested that programme had met its aims and
should be developed - Most valued seminars (also of greatest concern to
staff) were - Referencing
- Plagiarism
- Least valued seminars
- Library activities
- Précis and note taking
- Students found the seminars most useful
- in preparing for the first essay
- as a way of meeting other students
16Figures version 1 (03-04)
17Results version 2 (04/05)
- 138 completed student questionnaires
- Response again positive
- Most valued seminars were again
- Referencing
- Plagiarism
- Students found the seminars most useful
- in preparing for essays
- for understanding what was required
- as a way of meeting other students
- Seminars sometimes too dry dull
18Results version 3 (05/06)
- 192 questionnaires completed on-line
- Again, very positive response
- Main outcomes
- Students felt the course benefited them in essay
writing and understanding what was required - Students still associated with others met on the
course integration considered to be a key
benefit - Improvements (as requested by the students)
- Integrate tuition of WebCT into study skills
tutorials - All tutors should be available for office hours
so students can go and see them outside of
sessions, particularly during 1st semester - Shorter sessions (60mins instead of 90min
sessions)
19Results version 3 (05/06)
20Second Year Results from Study 3 Student
Questionnaires
21End of year grades attend (all or most) Vs.
non-attend (few or non)
- HP 04/05 t (30) 7.623, plt0.001
- Sig. diff. in end of year grades
- CH 04/05 t (30) 7.120, plt0.001
- Again, sig. diff. in end of year grades
- HP 05/06 100 attendance (CH less)
- (5 out of 8 sessions)
22Figure 4 HP grades (04-05)
23Figure 5 CH grades (04-05)
24Grades pre and post programmeintroduction
- End of year grades over the last 3 years show
that students who attend this course, in all
formats, do better overall than those who do not. - Single honours 2002 entrants (year before the
course first offered) achieved grades that were - not significantly different from those of the
2004 cohort non-attenders - significantly worse than those of the 2004 cohort
attenders - t(132)-6.8, plt0.001
25Fig. 6 Progression - CH psy. vs. CH non psy.
26Conclusion so far
- Main purpose of tutorials was to
- Help students make transition to university
- Introduce them to the level of and nature of work
expected from them - Explain assessment criteria, and core criteria
in order to help students improve essay writing - Teach students about referencing plagiarism
- Data analysis demonstrates that we have met these
aims, 4th Version being developed
27Version 4 2006/7 in planning
- Links to RLF Writing Fellow
- places professional writers in higher education
institutions to offer writing support to all
students - Developed from version 3
- New learning support centre with Write Now CETL
- Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
(CETL) is a collaboration between London
Metropolitan, Liverpool Hope, and Aston
Universities . - It aims to improve student achievement and enrich
students learning experiences through the
development of innovative, evidence-based
provision focused on writing for assessment.