4C -
Tracks
Track 3
| Wednesday, July 10, 2024 |
| 1:45 PM - 3:10 PM |
| Room E1 |
Speaker
Dr Claudia Rivera Munoz
The University of Melbourne
1:45pm - 2:10pm Understanding first-year students’ expectations and on-campus engagement in the post-pandemic university
1:45 PM - 2:10 PMFinal abstract
Understanding first-year students’ expectations and on-campus engagement in the post-pandemic university
Focus: Presentation of research outcomes
Background/context: Higher education is undergoing major transformations, and the post-pandemic era has reshaped the first-year experience (FYE), altering student engagement patterns. For example, anecdotal and empirical evidence indicate a decline in on-campus attendance over the semester (Hamlin & Barney, 2022). While this problem is not new (James & Seary, 2019), today’s students may have differing preconceptions about what is expected of them as university students compared to past cohorts, which possibly affects their engagement.
Decades of research have suggested student engagement encourages academic success, sense of belonging, and retention in the first year (Kahu & Nelson, 2018; Kuh et al., 2010). However, our understanding of the factors influencing students' on-campus engagement post-pandemic remains limited.
Description: This study examines the FYE of diverse undergraduate students, focusing on expectations of their roles as university students, campus participation, and factors affecting their on-campus engagement.
Method: This study employed mixed methods including data collection from an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with first-year students at a large research-intensive metropolitan Australian university.
Evidence: Findings suggest that academic (e.g., workload) and external (e.g., commute time) factors created barriers to students’ attendance and on-campus engagement. Students’ perspectives on their roles at university were multifaceted and included academic and cultural aspects.
Contribution: The study provides current insights into diverse first-year students' expectations and experiences of on-campus engagement at one Australian university that may inform institutional programs and interventions to promote and support campus attendance and engagement.
Engagement: A conversation prompt to engage the audience is: What can universities do to encourage and support first-year students’ engagement on campus?
Focus: Presentation of research outcomes
Background/context: Higher education is undergoing major transformations, and the post-pandemic era has reshaped the first-year experience (FYE), altering student engagement patterns. For example, anecdotal and empirical evidence indicate a decline in on-campus attendance over the semester (Hamlin & Barney, 2022). While this problem is not new (James & Seary, 2019), today’s students may have differing preconceptions about what is expected of them as university students compared to past cohorts, which possibly affects their engagement.
Decades of research have suggested student engagement encourages academic success, sense of belonging, and retention in the first year (Kahu & Nelson, 2018; Kuh et al., 2010). However, our understanding of the factors influencing students' on-campus engagement post-pandemic remains limited.
Description: This study examines the FYE of diverse undergraduate students, focusing on expectations of their roles as university students, campus participation, and factors affecting their on-campus engagement.
Method: This study employed mixed methods including data collection from an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with first-year students at a large research-intensive metropolitan Australian university.
Evidence: Findings suggest that academic (e.g., workload) and external (e.g., commute time) factors created barriers to students’ attendance and on-campus engagement. Students’ perspectives on their roles at university were multifaceted and included academic and cultural aspects.
Contribution: The study provides current insights into diverse first-year students' expectations and experiences of on-campus engagement at one Australian university that may inform institutional programs and interventions to promote and support campus attendance and engagement.
Engagement: A conversation prompt to engage the audience is: What can universities do to encourage and support first-year students’ engagement on campus?
Biography
Dr Claudia Rivera Munoz is an Early Career Researcher at the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education (Melbourne CSHE) at The University of Melbourne. She contributes to research projects about the student experience in higher education, including student engagement, belonging, and wellbeing.
Claudia completed her Master of Education in 2018 at the University of Melbourne, focusing on teacher and student interactions in the first year of university in Australia. In 2023, Claudia completed her PhD, which involved a mixed-methods study investigating first-year student experiences in universities in Chile.
Claudia has over four years of experience as a research assistant working on a range of higher education projects, including student learning, engagement, wellbeing and the internationalisation of higher education.
Assoc Prof Kate Tregloan
Assoc Prof
The University of Melbourne
2:15pm - 2:40pm Avoiding the traps: a novel approach to engaging with Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) data
2:15 PM - 2:40 PMFinal abstract
Focus: This showcase presentation will outline a novel initiative using SET data to support cross-faculty engagement with teaching quality.
Background: SET surveys, deployed in most universities, typically seek anonymous student feedback on learning experiences via standardised survey questions with numeric scales, and open-text comment fields. SETs have been criticised for their use as measures of performance (O’Donovan, 2023), and for potential student bias (Sigurdardottir et al, 2022) and misuse (Cunningham et al, 2022). Nonetheless, SETs collect a vast amount of data about student values. While key characteristics of meaningful academic practice development have been identified (Ragupathi, 2022), engaging time-poor staff with a mechanism many perceive as stressful or managerial presents a challenge (Cook et al, 2021).
Description: An innovative approach to using Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) data, implemented since 2019, has successfully engaged teaching academics in improving teaching quality. This project by BEL+T, a faculty-based academic development group, offers a ‘virtuous circle’.
Method: The approach employs SET numeric data to select both high and low scored subjects against a focus question; thematic analysis of comments to centre on student values and perspectives; and staff focus groups to explore identified themes and relevant tactics. Resulting resources are shared and integrated into other development activities.
Evidence: A key element in a suite of initiatives, it has informed increased engagement with teaching practice development and subject improvement. Faculty SET scores and response rates have improved.
Contribution: This approach offers an innovative application of SET data that steps beyond the limitations outlined in scholarship, and can be readily transferred to other institutions. It offers a means to actively engage educators with informed explorations of quality, and with reflective engagement on their teaching practices.
Engagement: Audience members will be invited to explore findings through their own institutional lens using polling apps to preserve anonymity.
Background: SET surveys, deployed in most universities, typically seek anonymous student feedback on learning experiences via standardised survey questions with numeric scales, and open-text comment fields. SETs have been criticised for their use as measures of performance (O’Donovan, 2023), and for potential student bias (Sigurdardottir et al, 2022) and misuse (Cunningham et al, 2022). Nonetheless, SETs collect a vast amount of data about student values. While key characteristics of meaningful academic practice development have been identified (Ragupathi, 2022), engaging time-poor staff with a mechanism many perceive as stressful or managerial presents a challenge (Cook et al, 2021).
Description: An innovative approach to using Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) data, implemented since 2019, has successfully engaged teaching academics in improving teaching quality. This project by BEL+T, a faculty-based academic development group, offers a ‘virtuous circle’.
Method: The approach employs SET numeric data to select both high and low scored subjects against a focus question; thematic analysis of comments to centre on student values and perspectives; and staff focus groups to explore identified themes and relevant tactics. Resulting resources are shared and integrated into other development activities.
Evidence: A key element in a suite of initiatives, it has informed increased engagement with teaching practice development and subject improvement. Faculty SET scores and response rates have improved.
Contribution: This approach offers an innovative application of SET data that steps beyond the limitations outlined in scholarship, and can be readily transferred to other institutions. It offers a means to actively engage educators with informed explorations of quality, and with reflective engagement on their teaching practices.
Engagement: Audience members will be invited to explore findings through their own institutional lens using polling apps to preserve anonymity.
Biography
Associate Professor Kate Tregloan leads the Built Environment Learning + Teaching (BEL+T) group, and is Assoc Dean (Teaching and Learning) at the Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, University of Melbourne. The BEL+T group applies creative problem-solving and design-led approaches, evidence-based research methodologies and project-focused consultancy to improve teaching quality and student engagement in built environment disciplines.
Kate is a registered Architect, and has developed architecture and interdisciplinary projects in NSW, Tasmania and Victoria, and has led cross-faculty and cross-institutional programs as an academic and researcher. Research and academic development projects apply design thinking to complex challenges, and regularly develop interactive tools for practitioners and educators, seeking new ways to look at praxis and production, and to respond to community need.
Dr Wendy Suganda
Universitas Katolik Parahyangan
2:45pm - 3:10pm Student-lecturer teaching partnership: leveraging the role of student mentors to promote student engagement and facilitate collaborative learning.
2:45 PM - 3:10 PMFinal abstract
Focus:
Provision of a practical application related to research
Background / Context:
Although educators often believe that collaborative learning is better than learning alone, previous studies have pointed out cases where collaboration inhibits learning effectiveness (Nokes-Malach et al., 2012; 2015). Drawing from work team literature (Mathieu et al. 2019), collaborative inhibition may occur when members do not fully engage to contribute to team outcomes such as in the case of social loafing (Gabelica et al., 2022). Unfortunately, student disengagement is a prevalent global issue in secondary and higher education (Fredricks et al., 2019).
Description:
This participatory action research (Hooley, 2005) offers initial evidence that mentorship of senior students can promote student engagement and therefore facilitate collaborative learning.
Methods:
Two lecturers and 52 senior students formed a teaching team for an entrepreneurship course in an Indonesian university with 173 first-year students enrolled. The main learning objective is to build and test a business idea through 14 weekly sessions. Each session consists of 90-minute lecture and 50-minute group project. The senior students led every group project session in which they gave formative feedback and monitored mentees’ engagement.
Evidence:
At the end of the term, the first-year students filled out an online questionnaire and reported strong engagement toward the module with 63 of them (36%) signing up as the teaching team for the next year's cohort. The senior students reported the experience was useful in developing their competencies such as leadership capacity, critical thinking, and communication skills.
Contribution:
This research contributes to teaching methods literature by highlighting the role of mentors in facilitating collaborative learning. It contributes to practice by showing the benefits of student-lecturer teaching partnerships for different stakeholders.
Engagement
The presentations would show pictures and video snippets from the cohort. The presentation will be delivered with a good energy level.
Provision of a practical application related to research
Background / Context:
Although educators often believe that collaborative learning is better than learning alone, previous studies have pointed out cases where collaboration inhibits learning effectiveness (Nokes-Malach et al., 2012; 2015). Drawing from work team literature (Mathieu et al. 2019), collaborative inhibition may occur when members do not fully engage to contribute to team outcomes such as in the case of social loafing (Gabelica et al., 2022). Unfortunately, student disengagement is a prevalent global issue in secondary and higher education (Fredricks et al., 2019).
Description:
This participatory action research (Hooley, 2005) offers initial evidence that mentorship of senior students can promote student engagement and therefore facilitate collaborative learning.
Methods:
Two lecturers and 52 senior students formed a teaching team for an entrepreneurship course in an Indonesian university with 173 first-year students enrolled. The main learning objective is to build and test a business idea through 14 weekly sessions. Each session consists of 90-minute lecture and 50-minute group project. The senior students led every group project session in which they gave formative feedback and monitored mentees’ engagement.
Evidence:
At the end of the term, the first-year students filled out an online questionnaire and reported strong engagement toward the module with 63 of them (36%) signing up as the teaching team for the next year's cohort. The senior students reported the experience was useful in developing their competencies such as leadership capacity, critical thinking, and communication skills.
Contribution:
This research contributes to teaching methods literature by highlighting the role of mentors in facilitating collaborative learning. It contributes to practice by showing the benefits of student-lecturer teaching partnerships for different stakeholders.
Engagement
The presentations would show pictures and video snippets from the cohort. The presentation will be delivered with a good energy level.
Biography
Wendy Suganda is a lecturer in Business Administration at Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, Indonesia and a visiting academic at the University of Saint Joseph, Macau, China. Wendy Suganda is a lecturer in Universitas Katolik Parahyangan. His research focuses on work engagement, work and passion, and leadership development, specifically for young adults. Besides his research and teaching activities, Wendy also acts as the learning development manager for his university, overseeing the learning experience of 10,000+ students.
Chair
Manisha Thakkar
Torrens University / Communications Lead, HERDSA Executive
