Inspiring Preentry Students in Research and Teaching in the Faculty of Environment an online interac

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Inspiring Pre-entry Students in Research and
Teaching in the Faculty of Environment an
online interactive approach A University
Academic Development Fund (ADF) project
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Andrea Jackson Andrew Smith

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Context of project - to help address the
  following issues
• difficulty in adapting to University life
  associated with
• overwhelming size of the institution
  misconceptions about independent learning not
  understanding the wide range of support networks
  available induction information overload etc.
• loss of student morale / confidence associated
  with
• a lack learning community feeling anonymity of
  large class sizes discipline misconceptions
  unfamiliar learning patterns etc
• the difficulty of being able to convey the
  excitement of research, the contributions our
  research makes to society, and how this
  translates into our teaching
• Issues which lie at the root of problems such as
  conversion and attrition rates, progression,
  attendance, etc

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Aims of the project
• to aid the school to University transition
• to motivate students to develop an autonomous
  learning style
• to inspire students about research within the
  Faculty
• to enhance academic community awareness
• for new undergraduate students (approx 500)
  within the Faculty of Environment (Schools of
  Earth and Environment, Geography, and Transport
  Studies)

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Description of project
• To produce a unique on-line resource (supportive
  and informative) that could be tailored for use
  by any School within the University (generic and
  subject specific elements)
• For the resource to be available to students
  from the time their place at Leeds is confirmed
  in order to provide the opportunity to
• communicate the essence of the research that
  occurs within the Faculty
• what it is like to be a student studying here at
  Leeds
• and what is expected of them within their
  discipline and within the institution.
• To produce a shortened version of the resource
  for prospective students
• ADF funding allowed employment of a part time
  project officer. Some remaining limited funds
  for resource development.

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• People involved
• VLE support
• Programme managers
• Students
• SDDU
• CSA, ISS
• Practicalities of logging on to BB
  pre-registration
• Skills centre
• Other interested faculties

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Preparatory work - Roundhay School focus groups
• A-level students questioned in May 2008 about
  their expectations of University.
• How do you think University is different from
  School?
• More freedom / more responsibility / cost / being
  busy / lots of money / more attractive men / no
  uniform / no small annoying people / chance to
  meet new cultures
• More opportunities / specific learning /
  independent learning / less contact time / harder
  subject / less rules / longer exams / less
  structure to days / better resources / dont know
  all teachers less personal / shorter terms,
  more holidays / more independence / bigger / more
  trips / different ways to learn / people want to
  learn / less spoon-feeding / less intense

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• What worries you about going to University?
• not settling in / not having a security network /
  money / people wont like me / stress / getting
  fat / not time for self or friends / not enough
  time to party / not making friends
• not being able to work independently / work being
  too hard / getting lost / not having a security
  network / not enjoying the course /
• What are you looking forward to about going to
  University?
• cooking / living away from parents / find new
  places / new friends / social life / having fun /
  getting drunk / new activities / new city /
  shopping /
• studying / getting a degree / studying a subject
  I enjoy / working towards my career / learning /
  independence / being able to tell people Im
  studying for a degree (prestige)

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• What would you like to know about before you went
  to University?
• Cost / price of food and drink / plans for
  freshers week / where nearest supermarket is /
  price of a pint / ratio of male to female / help
  in case of emergency / advice on transport
• How many field trips I get / teaching methods /
  student honest thoughts / whos teaching us / how
  many tutors / module choices each year / what
  support is there? / teachers specialist subjects
  / suggested reading / how much contact time / how
  much suggested reading / breakdown of course /
  what exams you have / what grades you need /
  opportunities for study in another country / size
  of tutorials and lectures / contact time / any
  books lecturers have written / career advice

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• If there was a web-based system to introduce you
  to your subject and the University before you
  arrived, what would you like to see on this?
• Facebook (meet people on course ) / tips on how
  to survive / forums (to ask students questions) /
  checklists / hear from students already on course
  / interviews with current students and tutors /
  maps / podcasts
• Exam examples / statistics on how people enjoy
  the course / advice on independent learning /
  visual tour of resources / reading lists /
  video-clip of lectures / FAQs / timetable of
  plans for freshers week / outline of course
  content / statistics on pass rates and
  employability

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Proposed Content
• an introduction to academic research involving
  inspiring mini-lectures by key research staff
• interactive research based exercises to introduce
  students to forthcoming teaching activities and
  to demonstrate how research is integrated within
  teaching
• demonstrate feedback and explain how they should
  use this constructively provide excerpts of
  current on-line teaching materials video footage
  of field classes etc
• collation of University-, Faculty-, and relevant
  School-based pre-induction materials and support
  links
• video welcome from key members of staff and
  current students
• provide links to their year 2 buddy / peer
  mentor, and other key members of staff
• a message board / social networking site for
  students to meet, chat to other students in their
  cohort before they arrive at University.
• further focus group work with current first
  year students

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Student focus groups
• Is there anything further to the information you
  were sent about your School that you would like
  to have known before you arrived?
• Links to relevant people/contacts
• Less people introduced
• More info on lecturers
• Learn more about research undertaken in School
• Better map
• Checklist of what to do (e.g. registration)

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Student focus groups
• Is there anything further to the information you
  were sent about your programme that you would
  like to have known before you arrived?
• Case studies what people have done with their
  degree
• More info on field trips
• Information on what further learning
  (e.g.supernumeracy) is available
• Kit list/what to bring
• Reading lists what do you really need to buy
• Lots more info on optionals/electives

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Student focus groups - Comments on current site
• Like
• What to bring
• Galleries
• Would change
• Rid of people
• Want forum as well as chat
• Course rather than programme
• Glossary of terms
• Activity - optional

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Web design
• Use graphic designer to give professional look
  and feel
• Chris Dayman - SDDU
• Two contrasting themes/designs
• Different appeal to different groups
• Technology
• VLE for hosting web pages Blackboard Academic
  Suite
• LUtube for film hosting (http//lutube.leeds.ac.uk
  /)
• Spry/ajax widgets for photo galleries (xml
  javascript)
• Envisaged to use other learning technologies such
  as Articulate, Qmark etc.

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Photography / Galleries
• Field trips
• Research
• Teaching
• Storyboards
• Connect text to pictures to build up a story of
  activities taking place (go to gallery)

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Filming
• Subject matter
• Talking heads programme managers and students
• Inspiring mini lectures
• Technical aspects
• Background people concentrating on whats
  behind the subject
• Can easily be done in house if you have camera
  software
• Need to learn how to use camera
• Need to learn software
• SDDU run courses for filming
• Key points to cover to ensure consistency of
  content across programmes
• Need to be short and sweet (2 mins is
  surprisingly long)

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Next steps
• Content populated in immediate term
• Resource will be trialled with current UG
  students and secondary school children over next
  few months
• Resource will be used by approximately 500 new UG
  students in the Faculty of Environment in August
  2009

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School of something FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Earth and Environment FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENT

• Hopeful outcome of the project
• enhanced first year experience
• improved engagement of students with their
  discipline, School, and the institution
• Contact details for comments / involvement
• Andrew Smith A.X.Smith_at_leeds.ac.uk