Transferability Studies

Sunderland- co-curriculum Liverpool Hope- Residential induction Brighton- Induction in Associated college Liverpool Hope- Student Mentoring Ulster- Small group support Manchester VLE supplemented transition. The whole set may be downloaded together here Ulster- student mentoring

1. Sunderland Co-curriculum- The Department of Psychology introduced extra-curricular opportunities for students to engage with peers and additional resources outside the formal curriculum and in a convivial setting. Evaluation showed that these initiatives were enthusiastically supported by students and the facilities are to be expanded.

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2. Liverpool Hope- Residential Field Course The School of Health and Applied Social Sciences instituted a residential field course with the purpose of enhancing social cohesion within the first year. Questionnaires completed before and after the trip showed improvements in the numbers of staff and students known by individual students and that most had felt that it had helped them settle in. To be more effective the field course would need to be held even closer to the beginning of term.

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3.Brighton - Induction in an associated college- Using the STAR guidelines Plumpton College reduced the effort put into an initial intensive induction and devoted more time to an extended induction which spread information through the first term and promoted the acquisition of study skills through small group tutorials.

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4. Liverpool Hope- Student Learning and Achievement Mentors (SLAMS). New Education Studies students were supported by trained mentors drawn from later years of the same course. There was a small improvement in retention and some very positive comments from both mentees and mentors. It was clear however, that the success of the scheme depended heavily on the commitment of individual mentors.

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5.Ulster- Supporting Statistics Teaching with Small Group Work - The School of Psychology had identified the second semester as a particular problem in the first year course and diagnosed the decrease in small group teaching after the first semester as a probable cause. The introduction of small group support for statistics teaching reduced student failure in year 1 and improved the student experience. This practice will be continued into future years using the materials developed during the project.

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6. Manchester- A VLE supported induction. Large numbers of students enter the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences in a Foundation year. Existing VLE support tools were adapted and extended to provide more information to these students. A WebCT for new students site provided support for new students prior to registration. A Foundation Notice board provided registered students with a one-stop-shop providing general and course specific information. A Welcome to Foundation Year site was provided specifically for international students prior to registration to maintain contact with them and to provide information about the UK, Manchester and the course. Evaluation was by focus group and questionnaire. Retention was increased (but other initiatives were being taken at the same time), enquiries to the Foundation office were halved and student feedback was generally positive. The use of the sites are to be extended to other student groups in the University.

7. Bridging the peer mentoring gap.

This case study outlines the organisation and rationale for a peer-mentoring scheme and evaluates its impact in bridging the experiential Teaching & Learning gap between level four and final year/postgraduate students. It is argued that where progression problems are traceable to weaknesses in examination performance benefit can be gained from adopting this locally controlled, low cost, small-scale, peer-mentoring model.

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