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Teaching Strategies

Teaching First Year Students

Introduction

The first year at University is a time of social and academic transition for most students and their early experiences are critical to their academic success and perseverance in student. Teaching First Year Students can also be more demanding on the staff member involved due to the large class sizes, coordination difficulties, extra planning and feedback requirements, amongst other issues. This website is designed to attempt to address some of these issues and to suggest strategies.

Profile of the First Year Student
Solving Issues
Extra Resources

Profile of the First Year Student

Research has found that new students at university:

  • display a high level of expectations and enthusiasm for the university experience which often gives way to disillusionment
  • are often employed 10 to 20 hours per week
  • are not always interested in participating in community building activities that are not related to their studies
  • come from very diverse backgrounds (cultural, gender, age, ability)
  • often fail to catch up once they get behind in their studies

For a more detailed analysis of the characteristics of a the New Millennium student, visit the review of Newton's work published in "The New Student About Campus" (Many of these are now held by the Central library and it is now possible to browse through the collection online via the Voyager search facility.)

Solving Issues

A first year student needs support through the transitory process in a series of particular issues:

First Year students require new skills

Challenge

A major concern is to assist first year students to become familiar with what it means to be a self-managed, independent learner. Time management is particularly difficult for students to learn. School leavers are usually more familiar with day to day involvement of parents and staff who may also take an inspectorial role.  Those coming from the workforce will also have their own particular challenges when they lose the structure of work and daily deadlines and demands.  Many students struggle to understand the need for detailed referencing  and unimpassioned expression of ideas.

Strategy

  • Planning skills can be taught in an initial tutorial, during which students draw up a weekly calendar and organise their time, writing down ALL obligations, (family, work commitments, study, social) and allocating remaining time to various tasks The University Study Skills Centre has on line resources that you can use to guide your students.
  • Use 5-10 minutes at the beginning of each session to teach university techniques such as planning, writing, and research in relation to an issue to be covered in the first weeks.
  • Note taking skills are improved if the student is aware of the purpose of the lecture, and the key points of the lecture are defined.
  • Refer students to services in the University for assistance with language and literacy skills
  • Create a web page which offers guidelines and lists expectations for first year students such as that offered by David Hart at the University of Adelaide in his 5 MINUTE STUDY GUIDES FOR FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

First year students need to adopt a new style of learning

Challenge

In professions-based awards there are often outside pressures from professional associations that tend to overload curriculum content at the expense of time to spend on learning processes.  As a result there is a risk that teaching becomes content driven, rather than learning driven. First year can be the hardest for  students because there is a need for students to learn a vast range of basic concepts in a number of new fields or disciplines before they can engage with their application to their chosen profession.  At first these concepts often do not appear to have any practical application.  It is very difficult for students to engage intentionally in this kind of learning if they do not understand the importance and relevance for future learning and work. First year students often confuse fact and example and require constant explanation of what materials must be retained post-lecture and studies in detail.

Strategy

  • Classes need to be structured so that students are encouraged to use evidence and to consider possibilities.  Research has shown that when many students start at university their level of thinking does not engage with material beyond a  "dualistic" level, in which things are either right or wrong and largely because authority, whether teacher, parent or research has told them so.  Learning activities should stimulate students to think beyond this level.
  • Propose problems which require reflection. Offer students the opportunity to take a moment to think about issues before commenting.
  • Design the topic to prevent passive learning. A student who is active in the learning process will retain the content after the lecture is over. Consider including group work, debates, role plays, authentic projects, small scale research and observations of everyday activities in their learning activities. Active participation can be also be encouraged by issuing incomplete flow charts, concept maps and glossaries at the beginning of a class.  Students need to complete them during class in order to have usable notes.  This also assists students in structuring their notes.
  • Design learning activities to increase the demand for level of complexity:
    • level 1: recall of knowledge and facts
      level 1 can be 5 questions with direct references to text books and resources
    • level 2: exploration of ideas of ideas, breaking them into component parts and looking for similarities and difference
      level 2 seeks analysis of an idea
    • level 3:application  exercises
      level 3 seeks practical use of ideas
    • level 4:critique and evaluation
      level 4 is reflective

Such activities can be included in a self paced online self-assessment quiz tool, giving students the opportunity clarify for themselves whether they have grasped concepts.   For an example of how this deliberate structuring of levels of complexity has been used visit this site (physics exercise)

  • Often the relationship between a tutorial and a lecture is unclear. Students can be then unprepared for a tutorial which turns into a mini-lecture, defeating the purpose of holding tutorials
  • Clarify the key terminology to be used in class by making available a keyword handout, concept map or flow chart.

First year students have a diversity of needs, experiences and backgrounds

Challenge

Focusing on students' learning needs rather than curriculum content is further complicated by the diversity of needs that exist in the classroom (age, prior experience, cultural norms, ability, etc.) In the first year there are very few assumptions that teachers can make about common experiences and understandings.  All assumptions about knowledge, understanding, experiences, values and capability need to be verified.

Strategy

  • Tests conducted in the first weeks of lectures allows you to establish what students already know and do well and where the emphasis in teaching and learning ought to be.
  • Put lecture notes on reserve in the library for later review by students, this can be particularly helpful for students with disabilities.
  • Don't leave it up to students to approach you to negotiate for accommodation of special needs.  Inform students in study guides and first classes of their right to negotiate for accommodation of special needs.

First year students show high drop-out and failure rates

Challenge

In any analysis of first year failure rates it is important to recognise that there are multiple causes of failure. In some cases students enroll for reasons other than interest and personal choice.  Early evidence of the risk of failure is when students fail to submit work. In other instances some students work for a mere pass rather than to learn. These factors are not readily apparent in grade distributions.

Strategy

  • Be approachable for students who are experiencing learning difficulties and advise them on the best course of action.  Make time available for out-of-class-contact. Group session  for an hour a few weeks before assignments are  due or "FAQ's on the web are an efficient way to deal with common queries.
  • Refer students who are not coping with the pressures of student life to the Support Services
  • Pay close attention to those who don't hand in the first assignment.  Approach them empathetically to ascertain what the difficulty is and refer accordingly.
  • Make the first assignment early on in the topic low risk and deal with issues promptly

First year students display poor class participation

Challenge

Some students do not participate by talking in lectures and tutorials due to a fear of being perceived as ignorant. Other students dominate conversations. There is also a concern that where there is a heavy reliance on lectures in the first year, there is a general decline in attendance at lectures as the course progresses.

Strategy

  • Use group dynamics whenever students are not talking enough and are becoming passive. Appoint a group leader ad recorders and break the group into small group discussions. Most students feel more comfortable dealing with a smaller group than talking to a large one.
  • Establish what students expect and what they are prepared to commit to by establishing ground rules. Write down their expectations of the sessions in an effort to make the personal relevance of the material clear. Students assume ownership of what is learnt which encourages retention. This gives also gives opportunities to encourage collaborative and personal engagement with the lesson content and encourages communication and engagement of all students. Revisiting the checklist increases the awareness of students who have fallen behind and encourages them to catch up.

First year students are typically under prepared

Challenge

Students fail to understand the depth of preparation that is required for participation in university courses and attend tutorials without having worked through pre-readings.  Because of this tutorials frequently revert to mini-lectures rather than active sessions.  Students who have done the preparation can then become discouraged from doing so.

Strategy

  • If a large group of students in a tutorial have not pre-read the prescribed material, give small bites of information and readings in the class. Give reading and reflection time. Either divide the class into groups for group discussion and hold a report back time, or encourage individual response.
  • Make use of flexible education tools to revisit the issue at a later stage. If the tutorial matter is crucial to the understanding of the course as a whole- assess it.
  • In lectures ensure that you explain the big picture. Illustrate how each topic fits into the course as a whole. Students need to understand the relevance of the topic to their whole course if they are to understand its importance. They might even attend lectures when they know why they are important!
  • Enthusiasm, excitement and even passion for the topic can be communicated to the student during lectures

Extra Resources