Going to uni is no longer a pipedream:

How an interprofessional project transformed learners and prepared them

for their next destination in higher education

Dr Jane McKay, Academic Development Tutor

Dr Lina Petrakieva, Academic Development Tutor

Lynn Sheridan, Lecturer in Social Work

School of Health & Life SciencesGlasgow Caledonian University

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Interprofessional context

GGAP •Greater Glasgow Articulation Project•Enhancing 1st generation student articulation pathways

CUSP •College University Subject Partnerships•Working groups of staff from FE and HE

Research •Funding to explore pathways•Led to identification of support needs

Needs identified •Academic•Psychological

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Scottish system

National Certificate• SCQF level 4

Higher National Certificate• SCQF level 7

Higher Education

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Literature

Students may feel sense of ‘dislocation and loss’ as find themselves less prepared than traditional entry counterparts (Cree et al., 2009) FE-HE Differences may include:

Very different approaches to L&T

Emphasis on critical appraisal and independent learning

Staff may be perceived to be unapproachable (Barron & D’Annunzio-Green, 2009)

Social work students tend to be first generation, mature and often have care commitments so have additional challenges (Cree et al., 2009)

Without early targeted support, these students are at increased risk of drop-out and failure (Gale & Parker, 2014)

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What we did

Academic skills enhancement:Development of a package of web-based

academic skills tutorials to support the college to university transition. Key features:Auditory and visual components – video format

Sequential

Contextualised

Integrated learning activities to consolidate learning

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What we did

To address confidence and anxiety issues:Student videos

Staff welcome videos

All materials hosted on website: www.destinationsocialwork.com

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Demonstration

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Evaluation

Pilot – 88 questionnaires completed by college students. Preliminary feedback all very positive, e.g.51% students reported that it had made them more

likely to consider going to university

Final evaluation Qualitative (3 college staff interviews and 3 student

focus groups with college students)

Quantitative (from 3 different sources)

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Example of theme building process

Raw data 1st order theme

2nd order theme

General dimensio

n

Positive outcomes

Increased psychological preparedness

for higher education

Made university

seem achievable

It makes it seem easier to achieve….I think it is

just such a helpful tool

Increased confidence in writing

ability

It’s not just like you’re going to this big place

and you’re all alone, like people have done it before

Normalised feelings of

anxiety

I felt like well there must be other people that feel the way I’m feeling and needing

this sort of help

(Berg & Lune, 2012)

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Student focus groups – commonly reported

issues

Use of examples “cemented understanding” and discipline specific – “easy to relate to”

User-friendly and simple language

“…it’s like an easy guide to writing”

“…no kind of unnecessary complications or jargon”

Format

Real-life staff and student videos

“I think as well there’s so many horror stories about going to uni…but the bit I liked was that every lecturer said that they were looking forward to meeting us and that if we ever needed support just to ask…”

“Nobody in my family has ever been to uni; it’s still a wee bit of a taboo so I expected it to be really posh with people using big words, maybe a bit snooty, but nobody seemed like that, they were just like your average people.”

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Student focus groups – commonly reported

issues

Enhanced understanding of academic skills“…it’s actually taught me how to write. I now know why a paragraph is there and how you use a paragraph properly. I’ve been ranting about it – ‘you need to go and see this website!’”

Increased psychological preparedness for HE“I think it was good because I sometimes I think about going to uni as a pipedream but I think with that it showed you what’s expected and it didn’t really seem as scary if I’m to progress on to uni, I found that quite useful.”

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Staff interviews – commonly reported

issues

o Supported teaching“You’re always struggling with how to pitch it but when I watched the video I realised I was making it too complex”

o Useful in other learning contexts (e.g. academic levels/subjects)

o Engaging features – echoed student feedback

o Positive outcomes, e.g. freeing up staff time, building confidence“I think it took away some of the fear by showing that there are support mechanisms and I thought that confidence building was a big thing for them.”

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Quantitative findings

SourcesFeedback survey on website

Website traffic - Google Analytics

YouTube traffic

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Evaluation – quantitativeFeedback survey on

website

97% found it useful or very useful

Skills for Uni Student interviews Meet the staff0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100% 89%

47%42%

86%

57%

43%

Area reported as useful

at college at university

Website area

Perc

enta

ge o

f re

sponse

s

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Evaluation – quantitativeGoogle Analytics

Page views >4000

More than 86% from UK (other popular are USA and Russia)

Average visit duration 5:22min

Average number of pages visited 3.92

Visits:

from a computer >76%

From mobile devices 19%

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Evaluation – quantitativeYouTube statistics

Total views >5800 views

Accessed by a variety of countries

Country ViewsAverage view duration

United Kingdom 550 (41%) 3:06

Canada 185 (14%) 1:09

United States 162 (12%) 2:24

Australia 149 (11%) 2:33

Ireland 45 (3.4%) 3:51

New Zealand 36 (2.7%) 2:07

Jamaica 17 (1.3%) 5:23

Malaysia 11 (0.8%) 2:14

Singapore 10 (0.7%) 1:39

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Evaluation – quantitativeYouTube statistics

Skills for Uni – Reflective practice - 1400 views 97% from YouTube directly

Most traffic through YouTube recommendation and direct YouTube searches (66%)

Top websites to navigate to video: destinationsocialwork.com (44%)

edgehill.ac.uk (21%)

deakin.edu.au (16%)

Skills for Uni – Critical thinking ≈600 views

Skills for Uni – Features of academic writing ≈480

Skills for Uni – Reflective writing ≈480

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Conclusion and reflections

A relatively simple intervention can have a transformative effect on students’ academic and psychological preparedness for higher education.

Lessons learned: The psychological component of support needs cannot be

underestimated; academic and psychological preparation should be addressed collectively.

Promote engagement with contextualised examples

Keep teaching simple; avoid complex language and jargon

Select formats that students will be familiar with. Using established, open platforms like YouTube will increase accessibility.

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References

Barron, P. & D’Annunzio-Green, N. (2009). A smooth transition?: Education and social expectations of direct entry students. Activity Learning in Higher Education, 10, 7-25.

Berg, B.L., & Lune, H. (2012). Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences, 8th edn. New York: Pearson.

Cree, V. E., Hounsell, J., Christie, H., McCune, V. &Tett, L. (2009). From further education to higher education: Social work students' experiences of transition to an ancient research-led university. Social Work Education, 28(8), 877-901.

Gayle, T. & Parker, S. (2014). Navigating change: a typology of student transition in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 39(5), 734-753.